“Luís Montenegro and the major parties have failed the country. They failed when they dragged us into this election, but also when they lacked a vision to address the major issues,” stated Inês Sousa Real during the presentation of the party’s program, structured around 11 key areas focusing on animal protection and combating domestic violence.
At a gathering in a room at the Iberostar hotel in Lisbon, the PAN party introduced the candidates for each electoral district for the upcoming legislative elections. The Viseu district notably lacks a PAN representative.
“The country is back in play, but this time due to the irresponsibility of not only Prime Minister Luis Montenegro but also the major parties, who did not rise to the challenge as they failed to engage in dialogue and instead opportunistically exploited people’s emotions rather than working to find solutions,” criticized Inês Sousa Real.
The sole PAN representative in the parliament also addressed criticisms against both left and right-wing parties, asserting that they, too, let the country down by adhering to the far-right populist agenda, erroneously linking immigration to national insecurity. For PAN, insecurity originates at home through issues such as domestic violence and child abuse, which are pivotal elements of the party’s campaign.
Among the PAN’s main proposals for this election are support measures for domestic violence victims, including mandating insurers to cover relocation expenses due to domestic violence under home insurance policies, safeguarding cases where victims must flee their homes due to their aggressors.
The party also continues to advocate for the public recognition of crimes like rape, sexual coercion, and non-consensual artificial procreation, alongside extending the statute of limitations for sexual crimes against children to 30 years.
Beyond addressing domestic violence, the PAN program encompasses the right to housing, offering benefits to cooperatives, implementing a concessional credit regime for young people, and reducing VAT on urban rehabilitation projects.
For the forthcoming legislative elections scheduled for May 18, the party leader has already set a goal to reinstate a parliamentary group, primarily targeting the election of deputies in the Lisbon and Porto districts.
